Side Effects
by TardisOwner
Summary: Every conflict has side-effects.  The real dilema is what the side-effects are when you try to forget your past. Modern AU.  All cannon pairings apply.
1. Transfer

*A/N – Hi guys! As usual, I can't seem to stay focused on a story. This isn't going to be a one-shot, but it may be kinda short. There is something you should probably know to start off this new fic: I switch around on POV's a lot. So, what may start out as a chapter in Kaoru's POV may suddenly switch to Kenshin's and vice versa. Also, I had to screw with modern Japanese history A LOT to make this work, so yeah… it's not politically correct. In fact, I'm pretty sure the Kanto region was mainly a Shogun supporter in the Bakumatsu… Hey, it is advertised as AU, right? I plan on updating on this as much as I can, but for now please enjoy this new brain child of mine. **I don't own Rurouni Kenshin and I never will. Sad day. **~Tardis*

Japanese à English dictionary (sorry, this is a long one)

_Gi – martial arts training clothing, what old samurai wore_

_Edo/Tokyo – for those who don't know, after the Bakumatsu ended, Edo was renamed Tokyo and it became the new capital_

_Kanto Shishi – Kanto is the prefecture that includes Tokyo, Shishi is a shortened term for the Isshin Shishi, or the imperialists._

_Kenjustu – swordsmanship _

_Satsujinken – 'sword that kills' or 'murder first'. Idea that a sword is supposed to be used for killing_

_Ougi – final attack, succession technique; the ultimate attack of a particular style of swordsmanship_

_Ohayou – 'Oh-hay-you' as Misao drags it out; literally means 'the morning is…'; way to say 'good morning'_

_Itachi - weasel_

_Tanuki – raccoon dog; apparently the animal that Kaoru often represents_

_Kitsune – fox; usually has negative connotations_

_Jou-chan - missy_

'_This can't be right…' _My eyes widened in horror as I looked at the file. '_I can't do this!'_ I looked up in amazement at the man sitting across the table. He was in his preferred dark-blue gi and his hair was all tied back into a top knot, with the exception of one strand of hair that fell in his face. Katsura sipped his tea indifferently.

"So, Himura-san, what do you think?" he asked as he set his tea down on his desk and folded his hands within his sleeves. I continued to look at him in disbelief.

"I thought you were transferring me," I replied. I was trying my best to keep my voice as monotone and businesslike as possible, under the circumstances. Katsura sighed.

"It _is_ a transfer, Himura-san," he stated calmly. I looked back down at the file, only to see my face professionally photo-shopped into a new ID card. I couldn't help scowling down at it.

"Katsura-sama, I can't do this," I argued, letting my monotone fall by the wayside.

Katsura smiled knowingly. "Himura-san, the war is over. It's time you tried to assimilate back into society," he explained. The smile on his face grew wider as my own visage became a perfect description of pure terror. '_What? But I—I'm not cut out for this!' _I screamed in my head. _'Katsura, you don't understand!'_

"With all due respect, I decline your offer," I replied, attempting to recover my former tone of voice. He shook his head as if exasperated at a young child.

He looked back at me with a faint, albeit slightly annoyed, smile. "Himura, this isn't an offer, it is a request from a friend. You once told me that you would like to try to make up for the sin I've made you preform. Now here is a prime opportunity to do that. I believe you would benefit from this," he explained. He unfolded his hands and balled them into fists before him. "Please do this, Himura. It would set my troubled mind at ease, at least where you are concerned."

I studied him curiously. There was nothing but pure regret in his eyes. He often blamed himself for what I had become, but we both knew it was my fault. Apparently, this was the best way he could come up with to make it up to me. I knew that saying it wasn't his fault wouldn't get through to him; he was too stubborn. '_I might as well just comply_,' I figured.

"When do I start?" I asked, a piece of my soul dying as I did so.

Katsura smiled. "Tomorrow."

1. Transfer

I looked pathetic. I stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom of my new, small apartment. Becoming nocturnal had done nothing for me, I decided. My skin was ungodly pale and the dark circles under my eyes became more prominent by the day. Now they were a sickly purple against a printer-paper white backdrop. I had become thin as well. All the bones in my face were plainly visible. And then there was my blood red hair that drained all the rest of the color from my face. _'No wonder everyone was terrified of me,' _I thought wryly_, 'I look like some gross cross between a vampire and a zombie.'_

I was glad my new uniform was white; it brought a little color back to my face. Still, I was sure I was going to stand out miserably. My eyes fell over the refection of my scar. It looked someone had burned a cross into my face against my pallor. That would surely mark me forever as an outsider, a demon even. Everyone in Kyoto knew of its legend, but maybe the word hadn't spread all the way to Edo. '_Tokyo,'_ I reminded myself.

I quickly finished getting ready. I pulled on my new navy jacket and grabbed my bag before slipping out the door without a sound…

***POV change***

War… It's such a simple word to describe such a huge catastrophe. Our world had been engulfed in the civil flames all of my life. There wasn't a single person who didn't know someone who was fighting or who had fought and maybe even died in this horrible conflict. My father had decided he too needed to be a part of this bloodshed, but after it was over he was forever changed for the better.

I lived in one of the many classic suburbs of what used to be Edo. My father had inherited a dojo that had been passed down in our family for generations. He was a skilled swordsman and a good teacher. Even before the war, my father didn't believe in the destructive Satsujinken, but instead he thought that a sword that protects was more important, even during war. After he served for the Kanto Shishi, my father started the Kamiya-Kasshin Ryu.

I lived with my dad and my adopted younger brother, Myojin Yahiko. My mother passed away from a fever she couldn't quite get over when I was about twelve. My father was heartbroken. Ever since then, I've kind of served as the woman of the house, trying my best to cook and clean and take care of the dojo. Yahiko and I were alone a huge portion of the time.

I was a second year in Jundai high school. Yahiko went to the junior high. Because of the mostly positive connotations with becoming a soldier, there were many boys in the koukou that were only in school for a semester so that they could still fight and finish their general education. Many of them were foot soldiers or even simple messengers. Sadly, though, many of them we never saw again and too many never lived to see the end of the war. Now with the war over, there were tons of veterans in the koukou. Some of them were my dear friends…

It was on a usual Monday morning that I began my normal walk to school. I lived about six city blocks away, so I didn't have it too bad. About two blocks from my house I passed the Aoi-ya, one of the most famous inns in Tokyo and home to my best friend Makimachi Misao. A fiery, loud teen with the most audacious personality, Misao had been my friend since we were very little. She was about six inches shorter than me and skinnier than a pencil with long dark hair and bright green eyes. As I passed the inn, Misao popped out from behind the front entrance.

"Kaoru-san!" she called as she unceremoniously attacked me. "Oh-hay-you!"

"Ohayou, Misao," I replied with much less enthusiasm. She released me and held me at arm's length.

"Kaoru, are you okay? What's wrong?" she asked critically.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm like this _every day,_ Misao!" I replied, "Not all of us can be as hyper as you at 7:30 in the morning."

She donned her normal goofy smile. "Oh yeah…" she said, faking an absent-minded tone. We both laughed. Misao was wearing our normal school uniform, which consisted of a white oxford under a navy blue vest and tie and a blue-toned plaid skirt and socks that came just below our knees. Her hair was in its normal braid and it swayed behind her as a tail would on a puppy.

"So, Kaoru, how was your weekend?" she asked.

"Misao," I replied, exasperated, "I was texting you _all weekend_. Things haven't changed that much in the past ten minutes." We both laughed again.

"Well well, if it isn't the raccoon and the weasel," A voice called from behind us, "Gossiping again, I see?"

We turned to see Takani Megumi, a senior girl who was, for some reason or another, our friend. She was drop-dead gorgeous and the subject of all the boys' attention during class. She was pale and pretty with an oval face and beautiful brown eyes and brown hair that fell in a soft sheet down to about the middle of her back. She looked at us with the highest contempt she could muster.

"No, Megumi, we hadn't gotten to that part of the conversation yet," Misao replied curtly. Megumi smiled and looked as though fox ears should magically pop up out of her head.

"Well, I'm certainly surprised. Usually you can't go five minutes without sharing some new damning update, Misao-_itachi_," Megumi said scathingly. Misao glared at her as Megumi laughed.

"I told you not to call me a weasel!" Misao shouted. I grabbed her by the arms so she couldn't inflict any damage to the school idol. I tried my best to soothe Misao's temper as we met a spiky-haired teen at the crosswalk.

"Yo!" the teen, Sagara Sanosuke, called as we met up with him. Sano, as his friends called him, was tall and lanky with brown, gravity-defying hair that was held back off his forehead by a dark red ribbon. He was in the standard boy's uniform of black slacks, a white oxford, and a blue jacket with the school's insignia over the heart. His navy blue tie was loose and his shirt wasn't tucked in, adding to his scruffy appearance. Sano was smiling so wide it made his brown eyes look like melted chocolate.

"Hey Sano!" I replied. He quickly matched our pace.

"Ah, are the itachi and the kitsune at it again?" Sano asked. Both girls whipped their heads around to glare at Sano. I smiled.

"Well, you know… it's the usual," I answered with a wry smile. Sano wasted no time in messing up my hair with his bandaged hand. "Sano!" I complained as I tried to comb my ebony hair back into its previously neat style with my fingers.

"Aw, come on jou-chan!" He laughed, "You know I can't go a day without messing with you!" I retightened my ponytail and threw him a half-hearted death glare. "Besides, your life would be so boring without me."

I rolled my eyes. "Uh-huh…"

We continued our walk to school in our usual fashion. Megumi and Misao were gossiping part of the time and insulting each other the rest of it. Sano and I would talk about classes and try to trip each other. Sano was like the big brother I never had. Even though he was only a year or two older than me and only one year above me in school, his height often made it seem like he was closer to ten years my senior. Naturally, we acted like warring siblings.

We arrived at school just seconds before the bell rang. Each of us scrambled to our first hour class. Sadly, mine was algebra. I walked into class moments before the tardy bell sounded and quickly walked to my seat…

All of my classes were boring, just like any other day, except physics. It was my last class before kendo and I was _so-o_ ready for that particular class to be over, and I hadn't even walked into the room. Well, it _had_ been a really long day.

The physics room was as it should be, with its two-student tables and the mini lab in the back of the room. There were several second- and third-years in the back messing around and gossiping. I slowly walked to my seat in the back of the room, and just about gave myself a heart attack. I think it was the fact that out of the corner of my eye it looked like my desk was on fire. Sitting in the seat behind mine was a new student… with flaming red hair. He looked like a third-year. He was kind of pale, but not nearly as pale as Megumi, and a perfect, tilted cross marring his left cheek. The scar was most definitely caused by a sword, because of the fine definition that it had, and it looked fairly new.

"Hello," I said to him. I couldn't see his eyes past his long red bangs before, but now he looked up, revealing purple irises. His eyebrows knitted together ever-so-slightly, but the rest of his facial features bore a look of indifference.

"Hello," he replied. His voice was really deep for what I was expecting. Though, it did still sound like a deep girl's voice, rather than a deep man's.

"Are you new?" I asked, knowing the answer already. He nodded. "Well, I'm—"

"Kamiya Kaoru, class has started," the physics teacher, Mr. Nakamura, said loud enough for everyone to hear. I turned around, embarrassed, and sat down in my preferred seat.

Mr. Nakamura began going over the material we had learned the previous week and I zoned out a little. My thoughts were running in common circles: what I was going to do after school, what I had prepared for kendo, and the latest gossip I'd heard from Misao. However, near the end of the lecture, thoughts of the redhead behind me occupied my mind. 'I wonder where he's from…'

*A/N – So, what did you guys think? I know it's kind of an awkward place to stop, but I didn't have much of a choice… For those of you in the States, Happy Thanksgiving! For those of you who aren't, enjoy this new fanfic! (P.S. – Reviews make chapters come out faster *nudge nudge wink wink* ^.-) ~Tardis*


	2. Kindness

_*A/N - Ohayo, mina! In English, hello everyone! I'm sorry it took so long to get the next chapter out for your enjoyment, but I had a ton of stuff to do. I won't go into detail, but I will say that I hope to have the next two chapters done by the New Year. Also, I want to give a shout out to J Luc Pitard, SRAS9, Ghostdragon101, and Mizuki1988. I usually don't give a shout out to my reviewers, but they all reviewed so quickly after posting that it was like getting Christmas a month early. So, thanks guys! __**I don't own RK.**__ ~Tardis*_ Japanese to English Dictionary

_Hitokiri – (who doesn't know this) manslayer_

_Bento – lunch box_

_Shinkansen – the Japanese bullet train by Rail Japan, one of the first ones ever built goes from Tokyo to Kyoto_

_Kabuki – type of overly-long and overly-dramatic play that started in Japan. It is famous for its large amounts of makeup and thrilling fight scenes_

2. Kindness

After an entire night of searching for something to do, I found nothing and no work to occupy myself. With a heavy sigh, I unlocked the old metal door to my apartment and shut it behind me without a sound. It had started to rain at about two in the morning, so I was soaked from head to toe. My hair was plastered to my face and I slightly feared for the well-being of my phone.

I went over and slumped into my old, faded orange couch and stared at the ceiling. It wasn't unusual for me to sleep wherever I needed to and not care about the rest of the world. Or not sleep at all, for that matter. However, I was starting to realize I was going to have to change a lot of my habits and character traits if I was going to stop being in hitokiri mode. The thought made me cringe. _'This must be what getting married feels like…'_ I thought bitterly. Though, instead of tying the knot with a woman, I'm marrying the new era… one that I'm not prepared for in the slightest.

_'Well, maybe Katsura has sent me something,'_ I thought, trying to console myself. I unlocked my phone. _'No messages… no missed calls… no texts…'_ my mind ran though the mental checklist. '_No orders…'_ I sighed and locked the touch screen.

So much for _that_ idea. I guess I would just have to explore this new age and find a niche in it. My mind was running in circles, but no answered appeared. According to my phone, it was 4 A.M. _'Thinking isn't doing you any good,'_ I told myself. _'Let's just sleep for once…'_

My walk to school was lethargic. I was only asleep for about an hour before my alarm clock went off. I didn't buy any groceries for my new apartment, so I didn't get to eat breakfast. Normally, that wouldn't bug me, but I didn't eat anything all yesterday either. My stomach audibly complained as I entered my first hour class. I also discovered that I had forgotten in the last few years just how much I hated calculus.

Nothing really interesting happened until about lunch. I was in English class, trying my best to figure out the Romanized letters, when a student happened to call my name.

"…and they say that it was hitokiri Battousai!" a second year exclaimed in a loud whisper. I immediately looked up, though I probably shouldn't have. It seemed like no one noticed, thankfully, but I quickly looked back down at the homework I was struggling over.

"'Hitokiri Battousai'? Tanaka, you're so gullible," his classmate chided. "He died like a week ago at the battle up near Fushimi, remember?" I silently sent a blessing on the other second year for saving me.

"They never found a body!" the other student replied defiantly. "The Shishi probably just want us to _think_ he's dead. He's probably just laying low for a while, since the war's pretty much over. Who knows, he could be in this very room!" _Uh-oh…_

The second snorted. "Tanaka, you really need to stop watching that conspiracy theory show or you're going to be seeing hidden messages in your socks." I let out a small sigh of relief and thanked the gods for their sympathy. However, part of me couldn't help but laugh. Battousai in their class… how little they knew…

Sadly, the first student looked down at his feet and then glared at the other student, defiance much less noticeable now. "Well, still… it fits Battousai's profile perfectly!" _That _brought my attention to them. '_What did I do?'_ I wondered.

"Yeah, but at the same time, no one's ever seen Battousai until now. Why the sudden change? Did you ever think about that?" the second asked.

"Because he's finally lost it, maybe?" the first replied, exasperated at his friend's 'stupidity'. "The killings are just like the ones in Kyoto! It has to be him!"

"Tanaka, I've always known you to be a bit off, but seriously man, you're getting ridiculous." And that was the end of that conversation. The bell cut off the most interesting thing I'd learned all day. _'A killing? Multiple killings, even? Maybe I shouldn't have left the Shishi…'_ I thought as I gathered my things and headed toward the cafeteria.

Jundai High school was built like most that I had seen: rectangular for the most part with a media center and a cafeteria to one side. Sadly, my English class was all the way across the school from the cafeteria, so I was at the back of the line for food. My stomach was about as happy as the rest of me as I was herded like a cow through the line. It didn't help that I had that second year Kamiya girl from physics and her rather obnoxious friend right in front of me. They talked more in five minutes than I did in a year.

Finally, we reached actual food. I was about to pick up a rather meager-looking salad when I saw the physics girl's bento fall from her hand after a well-aimed push from her friend. Out of instinct, I caught it before it had a chance to hit the ground.

"See what you did, Misao?" the Kamiya girl yelled at her friend. She flipped her black pony tail from one shoulder to the other and put her hands on her hips. Then she must have seen that I was holding the bento for her. She looked up at me with huge blue eyes and smiled. "Oh, thanks so much! I thought I was going to have to go hungry."

"It's nothing," I replied in my usual monotone. After the bento was safely back in her hands, thoughts of food coursed through my mind. It seemed, though, that they were to be dashed.

"Do you have anywhere to sit?" she asked. I didn't even have a chance to respond before she said, "Why don't you eat with us? We won't mind." A puppy-like expression appeared on her face and I could have sworn she batted her eyelashes over her sparkling blue eyes.

_'It can't hurt, can it?'_ part of me asked. I considered it, simply because I could learn more about what I have supposedly been up to, but on the other hand I'd have to sit though conversations. "I'm not hungry," I replied after I quickly put the salad back.

'_Dammit, I was hungry!'_ part of me whined.

'_I couldn't talk to her!'_ the other part replied,_ 'There's only two types of people who act like I do: ones suffering from severe PTSD and ones who kill people and then stuff them and put them in their closets! Thankfully, I'm not either one of those two options, but people will probably start leaning more towards the latter!' _I sulked to the back of the cafeteria, noticeably hungrier than I was not five minutes ago…

***POV Change***

"What was that about, Kaoru?" Misao asked. I was staring at the retreating back of the red-headed third year, stupefied. _'I just invited him to sit with us,' _I thought sadly, _'Is that such a crime?'_

"Hey, Kaoru, you don't happen to have a _crush _on that guy, do you?"

I blanched. "What? Misao, I don't even know his name!" I defended. She leered at me.

"Oh really? And I guess that would stop the assistant master of the Kamiya-Kasshin dojo?" she sneered as she elbowed me in the ribs.

I rolled my eyes heavenward. "Misao, you're the only one that _wouldn't_ stop," I replied. She and I laughed, but on the inside I wondered why he had turned down my offer. It was only a seat at our table, what was wrong with that? I didn't know. "Come on, Misao. Let's eat."

By the time I had walked into physics, I had almost completely forgotten about the incident at lunch. But, when I noticed that the redhead wasn't there, I began to worry again. I sat down in my seat belatedly, wondering if it was my fault he wasn't here. Maybe I had hurt his feelings? My head hit the surface of my desk. I felt bad, like I had caused some catastrophe to happen. I didn't even look up when the chair beside me was scooted in, and usually that bugged me. I often used it for a footrest. Without emotion or lifting my head, I tried to scoot it out with my foot, but it wouldn't budge. _That_ woke me up.

In the seat next to me sat the redhead, complete with a cold, uncaring expression and rigid posture. He was staring straight ahead, but seemed to notice my surprise. "Nakamura-sensei moved me," he said without so much as nodding in my direction. I turned around and his desk was no longer there. His alibi checked out. I had come up with a witty reply, but I never got to say it because Mr. Nakamura started class.

Mr. Nakamura's lecture took longer than I wanted it to. However, it seemed today we were working on reviewing scientific notation, which is more math than science, so the homework was a lot easier. As soon as it was passed out, I fell to, completing almost half of it in less than five minutes. But, when I got to the second half, I discovered it was a lot harder than it looked. I was about two problems from finishing when I noticed the redheaded boy wasn't doing anything. He looked at his paper, brow furrowed and hand on his calculator, trying to figure something out.

"Need help?" I asked. He probably wouldn't accept it, but I thought I'd be nice to him still. After all, he'd been pretty nice to me so far.

He looked at me, mildly surprised. "…am I doing this right?" he asked quietly. I looked at his paper. His answers were all perfect up to the last one he had finished. But, I noticed that on one of the harder questions (the one he was currently working on) he was forgetting to carry a negative, which was giving him outrageous numbers.

"You forgot the negative there," I said, pointing to the offending calculation. He looked at it again and began erasing some of his figures.

"Thank you," he said in his usual monotone. He was more than welcome, but something was still bugging me.

"What's your name?" I asked. He looked up, eyebrows knitting together.

He paused. "Himura Kenshin."

_'Ah-ha! So his name is Himura, huh?'_ I thought. A smile spread quickly across my face. "Well, Himura-san, my name is Kamiya Kaoru, but you already knew that. Say, why don't you eat lunch at my table tomorrow? Surely you'll be hungry by then, right?" I asked. His eyes widened slightly. I was extremely surprised to see his lips turn up ever-so-slightly at the corners.

"Sure."

***POV Change***

_'Why did I have to say that?'_ I yelled at myself. I was once again staring at the old popcorn ceiling of my apartment, trying to find answers to questions that had none. I had yet to eat anything, so I was unusually angry. '_I should have just shot myself in the head; it would have embarrassed me less.'_

_'Did it ever occur to you that she was just trying to be nice?'_ the other side asked. _'And besides, we have a couple of murders to investigate… or rather one murderer.'_

My other side seemed to agree with my ever-righteous conscious and I sat up and turned on the T.V. The news was on, which was good since that's what I was looking for. The anchorwoman talked to her two male colleagues about the strangely wet weather Kanto had been having, a traffic accident over by the shinkansen station, and about one woman taking on a burglar last night with a baseball bat, the usual stuff. Of course, they had to make it a million times more dramatic than it actually was. It seemed like they were going to wait to talk about murders, laundering, and politics until near the end of the news hour, since they all kind of go together. I forced myself to sit through their segment on shopping and the public's opinion on the new iPad. Finally, though, my patience paid off.

"And now tonight we have some more disturbing news. A few hours ago, the serial killer, going by hitokiri Battousai, struck again at the rail station at Kimura and Akashi," the woman announced in a way that would put kabuki actors to shame. The camera panned over to one of her cohosts.

"Here is some footage that was caught of the manslayer from a nearby security camera," he said as the screen was taken up by a greyscale shot of a man almost two meters in height slashing through a much shorter policeman and starting for another. He paused only to sneer at the camera, revealing a beard, dark hair and oddly-shaped eyes. However, he was _not_ me, so I guess I was a little happy. Let him keep the nickname. Eventually they will catch him, charge him with several counts of third-degree murder, and give him the death penalty. From then on, people will stop looking for Battousai and all will be better for it, right? I hoped so.

But, that didn't stop him from murdering people. I wanted to stop him, but currently I had no sword and there was no way in hell my five feet four inches was going up against a man way over six feet and a good hundred pounds heavier than me. It would end with a bloodstain on pavement on my end and a smile on his.

"An eyewitness said that the alleged hitokiri claimed that he belonged to the Kamiya-Kasshin dojo, a local martial arts school. Upon asking the assistant master, we found that they had no claim in the killings," the other anchorman stated as the screen was once again filled with a shot of… _oh God…_

"That murderer is not from our school! We teach to protect life, not take it. The fact that anyone would think otherwise is insulting!" one black-haired, blue-eyed Kamiya Kaoru yelled haughtily into the microphone. _Shit…_

*A/N – so, it seems that we have two Battousai on our hands… what to do, what to do? XD I know what we should do! We should review, so that I can put up the next chapter! ^^ ~Tardis*


	3. Unexpected Guest

_*A/N – Meri Kurisumasu! In English, Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, even if you don't celebrate the birth of Jesus (which is speculated to have taken place around March or April… maybe even late summer). Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this little present I have for you! __**If you recognize it, I don't own it.**__ ~Tardis*_ Japanese to English Dictionary

_Daisho – pair of swords samurai wore: the katana and the shorter wakizashi_

_Sakabatou –who has watched Kenshin and doesn't know this?—A blade with the blunt and sharp edges reversed_

_Busu – ugly_

_Yoshirou – Kaoru's dad. Basically, I couldn't think of anything else._

_Sengoku jidai – "Warring States era", for those who've watched Inuyasha (c. 1400-1603 A.D.)_

_Gi – martial arts training clothing._

_Bokken – wooden practice sword_

3. Unexpected Guest

It was a very angry Kamiya Kaoru that I met in the hall on my way from English. If looks could kill, everyone in this school would be six feet under. No doubt those nosy reporters were being written in her mental hit list. Still, I felt sorry for her. The fact that my name was causing her so much grief made me feel as though I should shoulder some of the responsibility, but there wasn't any way to go up to her and say "Hello, Kamiya-san. Good news, the guy murdering in your school's name isn't the real Battousai. In fact, _I'm_ really the legendary hitokiri, isn't that neat?" Yeah, that would be bad. So, I was stuck with the glaring, homicidal Kamiya following me to my locker.

"Are you still sitting with me at lunch today?" she asked. Really, it sounded more like a command. I nodded as I put my things away, careful to not look her in the eye. I was really surprised she hadn't stuck a knife between my shoulder blades at this point. "Sorry, I don't mean to sound pushy, it's just been a long couple of days."

"It's okay," I replied. I shut my locker and proceeded to walk to lunch with her by my side. Really, I wanted very much to disappear and sit back in my solitary spot in the corner. Instead, I was going to be forced to sit with four other people, all of whom will probably want a summarized life story out of me. It took everything I had not to cringe. But, now that Kamiya was involved, I needed to find out a little more about this false Battousai. And I needed to find a sword, too.

"So, Himura-san, what are you going to eat?" Kamiya asked as we entered the line. I shrugged. "I hear their salad's pretty good," she suggested.

"Why don't you have a bento, Kamiya-san?" I asked. I really hated starting conversation, but it was necessary. Hopefully she wouldn't think I was some serial killer or stalker.

She sighed. "My dad made that for me. If I made myself a bento, I'd have to go get my stomach pumped," she explained. Note to self: Don't try Kamiya's cooking. "And it's 'Kaoru', not 'Kamiya-san.' You're older than me; it's weird."

We finished our trudge through the line, a salad in my hand, a bowl of cheap ramen in hers. However, instead of walking me back to her usual table, she walked to the back corner and set her stuff down. It took me a while before I realized she was doing this for me.

"You didn't seem to be the most sociable person in the world, Himura-san," she said, "I figured you'd much rather just talk in private. But don't worry," she added, "you'll be sitting with all of us eventually." '_Oh, yay, something to look forward to,' _I thought bitterly. But, nevertheless, she was going out of her way to make me comfortable. As much as I wanted to be the gentleman and decline, I had matters to discuss.

"You seem to be in a bad mood," I said, hoping she'd just spill her problems on me and not make me speak at all.

She hit her hand on the table. "Of course I am!" she shouted, "I have some serial murderer saying he's from my father's dojo! We've lost all but four of our students already, and he's just been on the prowl for three days!" I blanched. I was expecting a sorrowful anecdote, not a spitfire damnation. "I'm going to find that Battousai and I'm going to turn him into the police! He will forever regret the day when he decided to shame the Kamiya family!"

"Wait," I quietly protested, "That would mean facing the Battousai. If a couple of armed police officers couldn't take him, what makes you think you can?"

She glared daggers at me. "I happen to be the assistant master of the Kamiya-Kasshin Ryu!" she replied indignantly, "I'll catch him tonight, just you watch!" And with that threat, she began unceremoniously shoveling ramen in her mouth and overall eating at the speed of light. I quietly scooted away my salad, suddenly more thoughtful than hungry…

Physics class went as slowly as possible. Sitting next to Kami—'Kaoru,' I reminded myself—wasn't something to be enjoyed today. She seemed to try and get her mind off the Battousai incident, but every few minutes she would zone out and her aura would experience slow deterioration. Several times, I was sure she was going to slam her hands on her desk and leave the room. But, she stayed and remained fairly calm none the less.

When we left physics, a very tall third year caught her by the arm and the two of them seemed to be plotting a surprise attack on the fake Battousai. It wouldn't work, but I wasn't about to tell them so. _'Well,'_ my conscious reasoned, _'it may work on the fake one, especially if he's dumb enough to try and use the name "Battousai".'_ I had to agree. Though, their plan did involve something about a net and the careful placement of a candy bar… _Oh, to be so naïve again…_

I ended up buying a detailed map of Tokyo and a bowl of cheap ramen on my way home. I also snatched the past few days' newspapers from various doorsteps. After I sat down and took a few bites of my dinner, I spread out the map and began plotting out the areas where the fake Battousai had struck. As I did so, I resolved to suck it up and buy the Google Earth app as soon as possible. I had finally made it to the last location when I heard a knock at my door. Three sharp raps, followed by a slower one: the Choshu Shishi's way of identifying each other. _'Katsura?'_ I wondered. I shot up and unlocked my door.

It was Katsura, as well as a man very similar to Katsura in height and general build, but he had a look about him that made it seem that he was used to hard work. He also carried a daisho and a slight air of familiarity. "I'm glad you stayed put this long, Himura-san," Katsura said with his signature half-smile. The other man said nothing.

"A new mission?" I asked as the pair entered my apartment. I felt slightly guilty for not cleaning up, but it wasn't all that cluttered, since I had nothing to clutter my apartment with.

"No," Katsura replied as he and the man sat down on my couch. "It seems you've got a mission without my help," he said and pointed to the map and papers strewn across my coffee table.

I straightened up my mess slightly and sat on a box in front of them. "So, why did you come here? Surely it wasn't a casual visit. I'm pretty sure most politicians don't just drop by to check up on their favorite assassins," I inquired. Katsura smiled.

"No, I'm afraid not. This, Himura-san, is Arai Shakku, a good friend of mine and an excellent sword smith," Katsura said. The other man nodded in acknowledgement.

"We've met before," I answered, remembering the many times I dropped off broken or cracked swords to his apprentice or son. Shakku nodded.

"Katsura told me of your 'new start'," Shakku said gruffly. He removed the daisho from his belt and set them on the table. "You can decide whether or not to keep the wakizashi, but I'm pretty sure that if you can stick to your ideals, that heap of scrap iron should do just fine."

Curiously, I undid the peace knot tying the katana to its sheath and examined the blade. _'What the—? A sakabatou?'_ It was a simple sword in design: a common saya, cheap hand guard, nice-ish tsuka, but the blade itself was pristine. The fact that Shakku called it scrap iron was a testament to his skill. And then it hit me: I couldn't kill anyone with this. It would take multiple, _hard_ blows to the head to cause enough damage to result in death. I didn't have to give up kenjustu after all! My face lit up like a kid in a candy store.

"Thank you, Shakku-dono," I said, accepting the katana, "this will be more than enough."

Shakku slid the wakizashi back into his belt and offered a gruff, "You're welcome."

Katsura caught me up to date with the dealings of the Shishi, informed me that our rumors of my death had worked, even within the Shishi, and announced that he and his long-time girlfriend had finally married. It was all good news, so I was rather sad to see the pair go after about ten minutes, but there was a lot for each of us to do that night, respectively. They departed, leaving me with the generous gift of the sakabatou, which I knew I would forever cherish.

However, there was a task at hand that needed to be completed, and soon. I had figured out that the targets made a perfect circle around the Kamiya dojo, so it would be logical for him to strike a little closer to it, making seem like the dojo was his rendezvous point. I took a few more bites of my ramen and headed out the door, a familiar weight back on my hip…

***POV Change***

"So what did you do today, _busu?_" my brat of a little brother asked as we walked home. Yahiko was short and tan with spiky brown hair that wouldn't ever lie flat no matter how much we tried. Today, his appearance was even more untidy than usual thanks to the wind. Clouds were gathering on the horizon and even the cars passing us on the street seemed to be in a huge hurry. I was anxious; so much so that I was about to hit Yahiko after that comment.

"Don't you have something better to do today, Yahiko?" I was really annoyed with him. He could have just gone to the arcade with his other 10- and 11-year-old friends, but no, he wanted to watch today's lesson instead.

He squared his shoulders and stuck his tongue out at me. "No!" I rolled my eyes.

"Yahiko, you know Dad doesn't want you in the dojo during lessons," I reminded him. "You aren't ready to learn Kamiya-Kasshin yet."

He threw his hands in the air. "When will I ever be?" he shouted. "Why won't Dad ever teach me? It's not like I'm irresponsible!"

I knew this was a touchy subject with Yahiko. His brown eyes were burning with embarrassment and anger at being unworthy (in Dad's opinion) to learn kenjutsu. I didn't agree with my dad at all; Yahiko was ready, but Dad was obstinate. It was really annoying him as much as it was me. Maybe it was because he feared that Yahiko would abuse his training.

I tried to mend his broken pride. "Yahiko, why don't you try proving to Dad you're ready instead of sulking?"

He nodded but he still wasn't happy. We walked to the end of the block in silence. "Are you going to go after the Battousai?" he asked at length.

_'How did he know…?'_ "Yes," I answered. He snorted. I could tell that he wanted to help me, but he was going to drop the subject for now. I think his kid brother instincts were kicking in.

"Kaoru-chan, Yahiko-chan," a voice called. At the end of the block was a black Toyota, parked along the side of the street. Standing next to it was Hiruma Kihei, my father's old secretary and sometimes-caretaker of Yahiko and I when my father was away on business. He was short and balding with grey hair only on the back of his head. Kihei was one of those old men who insisted upon wearing traditional Japanese clothing all the time.

"Kihei, what are you doing here?" I asked. Yahiko and I quickly reached him. He had his kind, wrinkled smile on his face.

"The wind was picking up and I thought I'd drive you the rest of the way home," he said as he opened the door for us.

_'That was nice of him._' I thought as Yahiko and I got in. I was glad to be out of the wind; it was starting to get cold in that skirt.

"How was your day at school?" Kihei asked after he got in the driver's seat.

"It was crap," Yahiko said angrily. "Stupid Yurameshi-sensei gave us a ton of homework and a test tomorrow!" He folded his arms and glared out the window as the city lazily rolled past.

Kihei smiled at Yahiko's pre-teen blues. "How about you, Kaoru-chan?" Kihei looked at me through the rear-view mirror.

"Eh, it was okay. What about you, Kihei?"

He had long since turned his eyes back on the road. "I tried to convince your father to sell the dojo, but he seems determined."

A grimace found its way onto my face. "Of course he was! We're never going to sell the dojo! That's been in the family for generations," I answered hotly.

Kihei sighed. "Yes, but kenjutsu is dying. Within ten years, the dojo will no longer bring in any business," he explained calmly as he pulled into our driveway. "And what with this Battousai incident… I think it would be better to sell the dojo and let your father focus on work. After all, Yoshirou-san really needs to dedicate his time in finding you a husband, Kaoru-san."

My teeth clenched. "Kihei, this isn't the sengoku jidai. Arranged marriages and women staying at home are things of the past."

We all got out of the car. Kihei unlocked the door to the house and we walked in. "I'll be in the dojo giving today's lesson," I said as I headed to my room to change…

As it turned out, none of the students showed up for class. Instead, I ended up texting Misao and Sano. They were going to help me patrol tonight and look for Battousai. I was waiting for them to show up when Yahiko entered the dojo. He obviously had stolen a gi and stood looking expectantly at me.

"When are we going?" he asked as he looked over at the bokkens.

Really? "Um, _we_ aren't going anywhere, Yahiko. _I'm_ going to find the Battousai and _you_ are going to finish your homework." I strapped the bokken in my hand to my back. Yahiko glared defiantly.

"I'll call Dad," Yahiko threatened.

"Oh really? And how is Dad going to stop me, via teleportation?" I asked as I put my hands on my hips. I knew I called his bluff. He blanched.

"He's going to ground you or something! Doesn't that bother you?" he sneered.

My glare intensified. "Yahiko, I'm going to make sure you're grounded right along with me."

I smiled as my bluff seemed to work its magic on Yahiko. "This isn't over," he said as he left the dojo. I could have sworn he was tearing up. I immediately felt bad. _'Crap. I didn't mean to hurt his feelings…'_

"So, we gonna leave any time soon, jou-chan?" Sano's voice drifted in the dojo. He and Misao were standing in the entrance. Misao was dressed in her onmitsu outfit and Sano in jeans and a t-shirt. Both looked expectantly at me.

"Yeah."

It was way past midnight before anything happened. Sano, Misao, and I split up, thinking it would better our chances of catching him. We set up a perimeter around the dojo, near the sites that Battousai had struck the past few nights. The night had turned very windy and cold. Thankfully, the clouds hadn't brought rain with them, but it made the sky glow orange thanks to the city lights. It was kind of creepy.

I was patrolling around the residential part of the district when I heard the sounds of police sirens. They slowly got closer and closer until I could hear shouts. I was currently positioned in an alley. As the shouts became louder, a tall man rounded the corner and came into the alley.

Thanks to the light of a streetlamp, I could tell he was very muscular. He had on a mask, but I could still see his menacing brown eyes. The sword he was carrying was bloody and so were his clothes. _Battousai._

"This is it, Battousai," I called as I raised my bokken. His laugh chilled me to the core. I could have sworn his previously dark eyes turned red.

"You think you can stop me, little girl?" he asked, dark humor filling his deep voice. Everything about him screamed crazy, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. It was very obvious from the way he held his sword that he was sloppy. Weight and strength were all he had going for him. I shifted my bokken to an attack position and braced my stance. "Oh, you think you stand a chance against me? We'll see about that, girlie," he said as he charged.

_'Strong!'_ I thought as my bokken connected with his katana. I skidded around to face him again when I felt the small cut he had given me. I looked down and sure enough blood was slowly seeping down my right arm.

He came at me again, this time faster. I barely dodged. However, I soon backed up against a retaining wall. There was nowhere to run and he knew that quite well. With a very wicked smile, he raised his katana and it began its lethal, downward swing…

*A/N – *in a narrator voice* And so you have it, folks: Kaoru is in grave danger. Will she be cut in half by the horrible Battousai, or will she miraculously escape thanks to a mysterious hero? Find out next time on Yu Yu Haku—I mean Side Effects! Just kidding. But, if you want the next chapter out before the New Year, you'll have to review… ~Tardis*


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